Single mum locked up unlawfully

A WOMAN from the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island says she has been left traumatised after being unlawfully locked in a police cell for nearly a whole day and a night.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found three people were detained unlawfully after their arrest in May last year. The woman - the single mother of a six-year-old child - was arrested for marijuana possession. She said she was locked in her cell for 19 hours and denied access to legal repres- entation. She says she plans to seek compensation. - NZ HERALD